This invention relates to a water storage tank for use in the fresh food compartment of a refrigerator such as a refrigerator that is adapted to dispense cold water.
Household refrigerators have been adapted to store water in the fresh food compartment so that it may be cooled and dispensed by the user actuating a water pressure valve to introduce the cold water into a drinking container. Many such refrigerator models are side-by-side refrigerators wherein the freezer compartment is on one side of the refrigerator and the fresh food compartment is on the other side of the refrigerator with an insulating partition between the compartments. In this type of refrigerator the water is dispensed by a through-the-door compartment where the user presses a drinking container or glass against an actuator which releases the drinking water into the glass without the need for opening the refrigerator. In some models the dispensing may take place inside the refrigerator and in either case the object is to supply cold water to the user. Heretofore it has been customary to install a container or storage tank usually made of plastic inside the fresh food compartment at the rear and near the bottom of the fresh food compartment. In many cases it is behind the vegetable pan drawers and the meat pan drawer. In the design of such refrigerators the meat pan is located at the bottom section of the refrigerator so that it will be subjected to a lower temperature than the rest of the fresh food compartment and in many cases the cold air being supplied to the fresh food compartment is directed downwardly toward the meat pan to help keep it at a lower temperature. One difficulty with such an arrangement is that the cold air impinges upon the water storage tank and since the cold air may be slighly below freezing temperature when it enters the fresh food compartment the water in the storage tank can freeze and thereby cause the storage tank to rupture or burst.
By this invention there is provided a water storage tank for use in the fresh food compartment of a refrigerator which will not rupture in the event the water in the container becomes frozen.